Waterford firm wants to build warehouse for GlobalFoundries

A Waterford company plans to build a 130,000-square-foot warehouse/manufacturing building, half of which would be leased to GlobalFoundries for storage space.

Jersen Construction on Monday asked the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency to provide $390,000 in one-time tax breaks as an incentive to build the $10.6 million project at the Saratoga Technology and Energy Park.

GlobalFoundries is expected to lease 65,000 square feet, said Jersen Construction representative Dave Jersen. The rest of the building will be leased to other as-yet-unidentified tenants.

“Once GlobalFoundries is in there, the building will become a destination for GlobalFoundries vendors, and the building will fill up with jobs,” he told the IDA board.

The IDA scheduled a public hearing on the application for 8 a.m. Monday, June 11, at the Malta Town Hall.

The site on Hermes Road is the same where Jersen last year proposed a 90,000-square-foot building. The primary tenant withdrew, though, and that project didn’t go forward.

Jersen increased the size of the planned building after GlobalFoundries indicated it needed off-site warehousing space close to Fab 8, the $4.6 billion computer chip plant now starting production. The Jersen site is within a half-mile of Fab 8.

GlobalFoundries confirmed its discussing a lease with Jersen. “GlobalFoundries is assessing the development of a logistics center at that location to facilitate and integrate our operations at STEP and Fab 8, as well as several remote third-party operations,” said spokesman Travis Bullard.

The leased space would be split about evenly between storage of items like dry goods and production material, he said.

GlobalFoundries will base between seven and 15 new jobs there, which would be in addition to the roughly 1,600 jobs that will be at Fab 8 itself by the end of this year.

The rest of the Jersen building could be leased to several of the vendors, service companies and suppliers that typically surround a computer chip plant.

“In the additional 65,000 square feet, there’s lots of opportunity. We know lots of suppliers who want to be right next door,” said Jim Angus, vice-president of the Saratoga Economic Development Corp.

In its application to the IDA, Jersen is asking the IDA for an exemption from the sales tax on building materials, an exemption estimated to be worth $310,000. It also seeks a one-time mortgage tax exemption worth an estimated $80,000.

However, Jersen is not seeking a property tax exemption for the new building.

The land is currently tax-exempt, because its owner, NYSERDA, is a state agency. Jersen officials estimated that the building, once built, will incur an annual tax bill of about $194,000, based on current tax rates. The building is located within the Ballston Spa School District.

The STEP park is intended primarily for clean energy research, and state officials said the building will incorporate clean energy features. “This new building will be a LEED-certified building, expected to use photovoltaic power and it will incorporate energy efficiency measures,” said NYSERDA spokesman Alan Wechsler. “We are seeking companies that fit in line with STEP’s vision of supporting clean-energy and energy-efficiency industries.”